Publisher's Synopsis
Films about shamanism make visible another humanity and another conception of life. Shamanism is a traditional culture practicing ritual cults led by a shaman, but the latter also becomes a filmic figure created by the West. The shaman is characterized by the mastery of an inner experience called trance, ecstasy, or altered state of consciousness. This state allows one to penetrate the world of the spirits, and is therefore a mystical and sensory experience. We will study three documentary films from a problematic around the stakes and the relations which are set up between the director, the filmic act, and the groups with sacred rituals. Throughout this study, I question the relationship between shamans and filmmakers, as well as the relationship between shamanism and cinema.
